Don't Kill Me
by Countless Stories
Summary: There is pain. And there is silence.


"Please…please stop."

The words spill from my mouth as the pair of two legged dog guards honed in on my scent, axes already brandished. How many times has my life been at risk in just the past two days. It was starting to feel normal.

"Hmm….here's that weird smell," one of them, the male dog said. "It makes me want to eliminate."

"Eliminate you!" the other dog spoke.

"Why?"

You're going to attack me because…because of how I smell?

I take a second to size them up, try to figure how to avoid their attacks. They said they smelled me, is that how they see-

They gave each other a kiss and then charged with axes drawn. Fast. I leap back to evade but they close the distance faster and swing at me, the blades crossing over each other's paths to box me in on both sides. I duck low and to the center of the arc, the metal's close but it misses, now if I can just…

Too quickly the next swing comes, slashing my arm even as I try to dance out of the way.

I give a short cry in reflex before I bite down on my lip to stifle it. There was no time for that, I could recover later but only if I stopped them now.

Quickly I reach out with my good arm and try to pet the boy dog. The other monster dogs had responded well to that.

He swats my hand away with his free paw.

"Paws off you smelly human!"

"I don't want to fight-" I start before they're on me again. I feel a searing pain in my side, I'd lost track of the girl for an instant. I hold the part where blood was starting to trickle and jump back to avoid the other dog's axe, trying not to focus too much on my torn flesh. It was painful but not deep, I could handle it.

I take in some fast breaths, forget the pain, don't panic, eyes on them.

If they're tracking me by smell, then…my eyes dart to the ground and in the first heartbeat I wonder if rolling in it would cover my smell. In the second heartbeat I wonder what would happen if they tried to attack while I was lying prone on the ground, crawling in the snow. In the third I grit my teeth and fall into it anyway, it's my best chance.

My heart beats so fast it might have exploded in those three seconds, I scramble to my feet, and see the dogs saying something lovey-dovey to each other.

I feel my mind spit out the words "Well at least they're having fun while they're cutting me up" but I push aside the bitterness. It gave me time. Maybe now they'd stop.

…but they keep coming. By adrenaline or miracle I dodge both axes this time, but scowl. Do I still smell like a human? Why won't you stop?

"Wait, sniff me!" I say desperately to them. Their footfalls stop. They stare at where my voice came from. I stand there, right in front of them, screaming at myself to run, run before they slice me more, but I stay planted…and they sniff my body.

"Are you actually a little puppy?!" The girl asks. Sure, ok, I'll take it. I open my mouth to say yes.

And the axe falls again. My legs push me back, stumbling over the snow. Miss the first hit. The second gives my stomach a thin cut.

"Why won't you stop!" I cry out. What else did I have to do?! Finally I turn and decide to run, still clutching the wound in my side. I can't fight back, they won't listen, I need to run…

Ten paces, twenty, I can feel them right behind me, but maybe if I get far enough away, maybe then. The pain stabs into me but I force myself to keep running, breathe ragged.

Thirty footfalls, but they're so close, I feel the air of their swinging axes behind me, no no no no no.

One slashes my back, and I fall. I fall to the ground and can't help but writhe at the feeling.

"We don't…we don't have to fight!" I force out. I try to press myself up against the ground but my side wound brushes the dirt wrong and a new wave of stabbing pain runs through me.

They loom above me. The faces of dogs that might have been cute if they had a scrap of mercy.

"Please…please no…" I feel tears well as they raise the axes one more time. I can't take my eyes away even though there's nothing I can do. I…I didn't want it to end like this.

The blades stab into me. Slashing deep into my chest.

I lose sight of everything, the world turning dark, nothing but dark, and I think one last thought.

You...killed me.

Oblivion falls. I didn't want it to end this way.

Please don't let me die like this. I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die…

 _I am determined not to die._

I jolt awake so fast my head spins, breaths coming fast in and out, lungs desperately inhaling what they thought they'd never taste again. I hold a hand to my chest, heart beating so fast that I can almost feel it ringing in my ears. I'm alive, I try to tell myself in comfort, alive.

I fall back into the snow and start to hyperventilate, vision shaking as I swim in the terror I'd only just escaped. What I'd have to face a second time.

* * *

"Hmm….here's that weird smell," the male dog says. "It makes me want to eliminate." Here we are again.

"Eliminate you!" the other dog spoke.

I stand opposite them, the blunt fake knife in my hand the best weapon I have, but it needs to manage.

I feel a twinge in my heart. Does it have to end this way?

But the red follows. Red hot anger that makes it hard to see straight.

You killed me! I tried so many times to show you I wasn't a threat, but no matter how much I tried to prove my good intentions you kept attacking! You wouldn't stop, wouldn't hear me out for even one minute. I did nothing to you! How is it fair that I'm the one who dies?

They brandish their axes, and prepare to charge.

If my eyes close again this time, will it be the last time? Will I wake up where I was before, with terror in my heart? Or…will I just not wake up at all?

They bolt towards me.

I don't…I don't want to find out!

I raise the knife in defense.

* * *

Before long another monster stands in my path. That's not a surprise, I've run across dozens already, why would I expect those guard dogs to be the last.

He's a small guy wearing a cap of ice, which he seems dead-set on making me look at. And now he's attacking me for…what, attention? He'll try to kill me too. He's exactly the same as those guards.

An image flashes through my head, of those two guards fallen and bleeding out on the ground. They were holding each other's paws as they breathed their last.

I find myself grimacing. I feel the knife in my hand, the easiest way to settle this. I return it to my pocket.

"I hate you," I say to the monster. "And I'm not going to die trying to save the person trying to kill me."

If he hears my words, he doesn't acknowledge them. He charges at me headlong, trying to skewer me with his icy head. I dodge out of the way cleanly. He's open for a hit…I don't take it.

"But even if I hate you, I'll spare you. I'll spare everyone I can afford to spare."

He turns back around, ready to try to strike me again.

"Even if it's more than you'd ever do."


End file.
